A variety of liquid-liquid extraction columns are known in the art. Illustrative of such extraction columns are those disclosed in the following U.S. patents: U.S. Pat. No. 2,710,790; U.S. Pat. No. 2,900,238; U.S. Pat. No. 2,988,429; U.S. Pat. No. 2,973,189; U.S. Pat. No. 2,895,809; U.S. Pat. No. 2,851,396; U.S. Pat. No. 2,153,507; U.S. Pat. No. 2,056,763; U.S. Pat. No. 1,992,133; U.S. Pat. No. 2,950,244 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,899,299. Of these liquid-liquid extraction devices, those employing sieve trays have gained considerable commercial acceptance since they are relatively inexpensive and function satisfactorily within design conditions. Unfortunately, liquid-liquid contact equipment using sieve tray internals, such as extraction towers or deasphalting towers, are not generally capable of efficiently handling a wide range of dispersed phase flowrates but are restricted to operating at the flowrate for which they were designed. The range of operability of the presently used contact equipment having sieve trays is limited since the flowrate of a liquid through a given sieve hole area is proportional to the square root of the head of the liquid being dispersed above or below the tray. Thus, to increase the flowrate by a factor of three for the same number of sieve holes, would require the ability to increase the head of liquid by a factor of nine. Moreover, the distribution of drop sizes formed would be adversely effected by the increased fluid velocity through the holes, resulting in reduced efficiency. Also, an equipment design which would accommodate such a change in head height and hole velocity is not economically attractive. Consequently, for this and other reasons, there remains a need for an improved liquid-liquid extraction apparatus which can handle a wide range of dispersed phase flowrates.